1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a snap formed in the form of a male body and a female body and more particularly to a snap with supports for use in a fastening device of clothes, an opening/closing device of curtain and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a known snap with tapes of this type, an attaching hole is made in the center of the tape at a predetermined pitch in order to attach the snaps on the tape. Then, a male body or a female body of the snap formed of thermoplastic resin is attached on this attaching hole in the tape by integral molding by injection molding means.
According to Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 56-16311, as shown in FIG. 13, a tape-like foundation cloth 6xe2x80x2 is woven or knitted such that that weave pattern or stitch in the center in the width direction is rough while the weave pattern or stitch on both side portions is fine. Then, a male body or a female body of a snap 1xe2x80x2 of thermoplastic resin is attached in the rough weave pattern portion or rough stitch portion in the center at a predetermined pitch by injection molding means using synthetic resin.
Because the snap with tapes of the first example described above needs to be provided with attaching holes in the tape in order to attach a male body or a female body on the tape at a predetermined pitch, a hole boring step is required for attaching the snaps, which is a troublesome work. Further, it is also troublesome to align a cavity with the attaching hole at the predetermined pitch.
Further, the snap with tapes shown in FIG. 13 must be woven or knitted such that the tape-like foundation cloth is rough in the center thereof while both side portions are fine. Therefore, production of such a tape-like foundation cloth is troublesome. Further, because the male body or female body of the snap is formed of synthetic resin in the rough weave pattern portion or stitch portion of the tape-like foundation cloth, the fixing strength of the snap is not enough. Thus, this snap with tapes is not suitable for practical use.
The present invention has been achieved in views of the above described problems. An object of the present invention is to provide a snap with supports in which any troublesome processing such as boring is not necessary and existing tapes, but not special tape or strings are disposed as supports in parallel to have a predetermined gap between the supports and snaps are molded of thermoplastic resin in this gap by injection molding means or extrusion molding means. That is, an object of the invention is to provide a snap with supports, in which a plurality of snaps are attached along long tapes or the strings as supports at a predetermined pitch. Thus, the snaps are attached very easily, thereby leading to improvement of productivity and provision of a solid snap with supports having the practical performance.
Another object of the invention is to provide a snap with supports, the snaps of thermoplastic resin being attached onto opposing tapes or strings firmly and effectively.
Another object of the invention is to provide a snap with supports in which the male body or the female body of the snap to be attached on the opposing tapes or strings can be selected depending on application purpose and configuration.
Another object of the invention is to provide a snap with supports, the snap of thermoplastic resin being attached firmly on the opposing supports, particularly, tapes and more specifically a snap with supports having a structure suitable for a large size snap.
Another object of the invention is to provide a snap with supports in which the male body or the female body of the snap of thermoplastic resin to be attached on the supports of the opposing tapes or strings has the most optimum structure.
Another object of the invention is to provide a snap with supports capable of preventing itself from floating or undulating when edges of the opposing tapes are sewed on clothes.
To achieve the above object, according to the main aspect of the invention, there is provided a snap with supports, the snap being attached by integral molding means using thermoplastic resin on opposing edges of supports disposed in parallel opposing each other across a constant gap such that the snap is molded at a predetermined pitch utilizing the gap so as to nip the supports. Thus, by disposing the supports in parallel with the gap and then using this gap, the thermoplastic resin snap can be formed integrally easily. Consequently, a processing for boring an attaching hole in the support is not necessary and it is not necessary to form a tape having a special structure hard to produce. Molding pitch can be selected freely and the molding can be achieved easily, thereby leading to improvement of productivity.
Preferably, the gap formed between the opposing supports disposed in parallel have a distance, that is, a gap which is at least larger than the size of an engaging head on a male body or an engaging hole in a female body of the snap. Consequently, this is an ideal condition not necessitating secondary processing, which enables efficient molding.
Preferably, the opposing supports disposed in parallel are formed of tapes. Alternatively, the opposing supports disposed in parallel are formed of strings. Consequently, the snap of thermoplastic resin can be formed easily without conducting special treatment on the tape or string used as a support, and thus, a high quality product can be produced.
Preferably, the opposing edge of each of the tapes disposed in parallel is formed in an enlarged edge portion. Consequently, the thermoplastic resin snap can be attached firmly with a simple structure, so that a solid, good-appearance product can be produced.
Preferably, either male bodies or female bodies of the snaps are disposed on the opposing edges of the opposing supports disposed in parallel. Alternatively, the male bodies and female bodies of the snaps are disposed alternately on the opposing edges of the opposing supports disposed in parallel. Consequently, one product composed of a set of two supports, which has no restriction in engaging positions, and another product composed of one support which can be easily used solely and in various forms depending on application purpose are provided.
Preferably, a through hole is provided in the vicinity of each of the opposing edges of the supports disposed in parallel and a nipping portion of the snap is formed on each of the through holes. Consequently, a large-size snap of thermoplastic resin can be attached firmly to the tape with a good appearance, thereby leading to increase of demand for the snap with supports.
Also preferably, the male body of the snap to be attached on the opposing edges of the opposing supports disposed in parallel has an engaging post provided in the center of a flat base having nipping portions on both sides thereof, the engaging post including an engaging head provided on an outer peripheral face such that they are protruded, and the female body of the snap has the engaging hole provided in the center of the base having nipping portions on both sides thereof, the engaging hole being capable of engaging with the engaging head and having a protruded row provided laterally in a peripheral wall of the engaging hole. Consequently, the thermoplastic resin snap can be attached in an ideal manner to the tapes or strings disposed in parallel and further, this snap is produced as a final product which can be used easily.
Also preferably, the male bodies or/and female bodies of the snaps are disposed on the opposing edges of the opposing supports disposed in parallel and small bridge pieces of thermoplastic resin are disposed on the opposing edges such that they are located between the longitudinally adjacent snaps simultaneously with the molding of the snaps. Consequently, when this snaps are attached to an attaching portion of an opening/closing portion of clothes, this structure prevents the opposing edges of the snap from floating or undulating.